Director-General meets Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry

17 January 2020, Berlin - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met today Turkey's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli on the sidelines of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.

The Director-General noted that Turkey is an important member of the G20 group and appreciated Turkey for playIng an active role and bringing a fresh perspective to the international agenda on food and agriculture. He also emphasized the important role Turkey plays in the region and subregion.

The Minister thanked FAO for the Organization's good work in his country, and invited the Director-General to the Save Food Initiative-related regional conference in September. 

The Minister and the Director-General also touched upon the value of knowledge and technology in agriculture. The Minister gave examples of new agricultural technologies being used in his country as well as environmentally-friendly initiatives being scaled up - such as the aim to plant over 80 million trees in 2020. 

Qu conveyed appreciation for these initiatives and encouraged Turkey to identify its comparative advantages - something that FAO is ready to support. He also noted that multilateralism is important not only for smaller, but also for middle-income countries.